AJA Enters National Basketball Tournament

Atlanta Jewish Academy is one of 20 Jewish high school boys basketball teams invited to play in the 25th annual Red Sarachek Invitational Basketball Tournament from Thursday, March 10, to Monday, March 14.

The tournament, hosted by Yeshiva University at the Max Stern Athletic Center in New York’s Washington Heights, brings together hundreds of student athletes and their fans from across North America for competition and a celebration of Jewish unity.

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Established to honor the legacy of former YU Maccabees coach Bernard “Red” Sarachek, the tournament includes a lively Shabbaton and tours of the university’s expanding campus.

“Coach Sarachek was a larger-than-life figure whose dedication to the Yeshiva University students and the greater Jewish community is well known,” said Rabbi Kenneth Brander, the vice president of university and community life at the university. “We are thrilled to honor his memory every year by giving high school students from across the country the full Yeshiva University experience, showing them that only at Yeshiva can a Shabbat-observant college student play competitive NCAA basketball and learn from intellectual giants in all fields of Jewish study and general knowledge.”

Jewish Hall of Fame athlete Tal Brody will attend the tournament to pay tribute to Sarachek, address the students and fans, and watch from the sidelines. Brody, who turned down a shot at the NBA, led Maccabi Tel Aviv to the European Cup championship in 1977.

The tournament will be streamed live in high-definition video by the student-run MacsLive sports network. Visit www.macslive.com/sarachek for complete tournament coverage.

AJA, which is seeded 20th in the tournament, was scheduled to open play against Chicago’s Ida Crown Jewish Academy, the 13th seed, at 10 a.m. Thursday, March 10, in a Tier II qualifier.

The other schools, in order of seeding, are Davis Renov Stahler Yeshiva High School of Woodmere, N.Y.; Abraham Joshua Heschel School of New York; Shalhevet High School of Los Angeles; Valley Torah High School of Valley Village, Calif.; Yeshiva University High School of Los Angeles; Yeshiva High School of Boca Raton, Fla.; the Frisch School of Paramus, N.J.; Rabbi Alexander S. Gross Hebrew Academy of Miami; Torah Academy of Bergen County of Teaneck, N.J.; Cooper Yeshiva High School of Memphis, Tenn.; Maimonides School of Brookline, Mass.; Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy of New York; Rambam Mesivta of Lawrence, N.Y.; Fuchs Mizrachi School of Cleveland; Hebrew Academy of Montreal; Kohelet Yeshiva High School of Philadelphia; Southern California Yeshiva High School of San Diego; and Robert M. Beren Academy of Houston.